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17
votes
5answers
935 views

When can the -ing form of a verb be placed before a noun?

My native-speaker's grammatical intuition tells me that: There is a sleeping man under the tree. is fine but There is a fishing man by the river bank. is wrong. Why? I've thought about ...
7
votes
2answers
1k views

Is “Should be *ing” a valid English phrasing?

I'm Portuguese and my girlfriend German. Because she is a Germanic-language native-speaker, she is constantly correcting my English. Though, often it is annoying that she corrects me in grammar ...
4
votes
4answers
183 views

Doubts about using “to+ ing”

I heard this sentence in a film: We are one step closer to ending this. I do not know why we have to use "ending" instead of "end". Is "Step to" a phrasal verb?
4
votes
1answer
375 views

Looking forward to follow vs. following

I was reading this today: We look forward to following your progress. Am I correct in thinking that it is missing a be or -ing should be removed? So We look forward to be following your progress. ...
3
votes
1answer
959 views

Like to vs like + ing [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: “I like to do (be) something” vs “I like doing (being) something” Hello, Is there any difference of meaning between these sentences? I like to get up early I like ...
2
votes
1answer
148 views

Passive auxiliary verb or progressive one?

Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.                —Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Is ‘being’ a passive auxiliary verb or a progressive one?
2
votes
2answers
89 views

For + verb-ing at the beginning of a sentece

Is the following sentence structure grammatically correct? I mean, I've found a lot of examples that have this structure but not at the beginning of the phrase but with a subject before. Here is an ...
2
votes
1answer
60 views

Apart from + infinitive

A piece of news from the BBC reads as follows [emphasis in the original]: The UN has said very little on the matter, apart from to insist it is immune from legal proceedings. Now, I knew that ...
2
votes
2answers
41 views

I've been seeing good movies or I've been watching good movies? [duplicate]

what would you rather say? Which one is correct? Thanks,Herman.
1
vote
1answer
133 views

How to pronounce '-ing' followed by a vowel

I'm getting into English recently and I'm a little confused by the way people pronounce a word that starts in a vowel right after a word ending in -ing. For example: You have to bring it up now? ...
0
votes
3answers
277 views

Why different tenses? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Using verb tenses correctly This is a quote from The Great Gatsby: She smiled slowly and, walking through her husband as if he were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, ...
0
votes
2answers
728 views

“while at the same time” + -ing form?

In following sentence, I'm not sure if I have to use the -ing form or the infinitive. I wanted to get rid of X, while at the same time not assuming/ assume that... The -ing form sounds better, ...
-1
votes
1answer
50 views

Occupy vs. occupying

Please read the following sentence: Determine the mechanism by which the elements occupying the system interact with one another. Is occupying grammatically correct in this context? Should that ...
-2
votes
2answers
101 views

Ambiguities and use of infinite and “-ing” form [closed]

I was looking for videos on YouTube, in my (almost) daily exercise to attempt improving my understanding of the spoken English, when I settled for a video entitled: "Why you will fail to have a great ...